CHRISTMAS TRAIN: Manmade snow falls as the Caltrain holiday train stops in Burlingame, Calif. on Saturday Dec. 1, 2012. The train decorated with thousands of lights, and it carried Santa Claus and his extended family to greet kids at each stop. (John Green/Bay Area News Group Archives)

CHRISTMAS TRAIN: Santa Claus is greeted as he waves from the Caltrain Holiday Train in 2016.
The train will roll from San Francisco to Santa Clara on Dec. 2-3, 2017.
(Photo courtesy Silicon Valley Community Foundation)

CHRISTMAS TRAIN: Frosty the Snow Man waves to kids as the Caltrain holiday train stopped in Burlingame, Calif. on Saturday Dec. 1, 2012.The train decorated with thousands of lights carried Santa Claus and his extended family to greet kids at each stop. (John Green/Staff)

Christmas Tree Lane - Palo Alto: Visitors walk past a decorated house on Fulton Street in Palo Alto on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010. Since 1940, two blocks of Fulton Street near Embarcadero Road have been turned into ÒChristmas Tree LaneÓ in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
(Kirstina Sangsahachart/ Daily News)

Christmas Tree Lane - Palo Alto: A pair of illuminated Christmas penguins stands on the corner of Fulton Street in Palo Alto on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010. Since 1940, two blocks of Fulton Street near Embarcadero Road have been turned into ÒChristmas Tree LaneÓ in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
(Kirstina Sangsahachart/ Daily News)

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Holiday lights are illuminating homes and businesses across the San Francisco Bay Area. But while some of us just hang a strand or two and call it done, others go all out, decorating their homes, roofs, gardens and patios in such exuberant fashion, crowds flock to see.

The San Francisco Peninsula offers plenty of holiday spectacles, starting with the light show in San Carlos, where home after home in this 1950s-era neighborhood is adorned with lights. Many boast outdoor fire pits, too, so you can get warm you as you socialize and gaze at the displays. It’s open nightly through Dec. 25 on the 1900 block of Eucalyptus Ave.

But wait, there’s more! In Redwood City, Steven Foster transforms his home — at 411 Topaz St. — into a large LED light display. This year, he says, “(I) recently changed my entire patio into a synchronized light show with music looping nightly. It’s quite a sight.”

And, of course, then there’s Woodside’s Filoli Estate, a grand historic property made even more spectacular by its holiday displays.